10 Outrageous Markups

2. Text messages: 6,000 percent markup.
A typical text message costs you 20 cents and the phone company 0.3 cents to transmit, according to the Chicago Tribune. If the phone company applied text-message rates to a short phone call, you’d pay $120 for the call.

3. Movie theater popcorn: 1,275 percent markup

4. Brand-name drugs: 200 to 3,000 percent markup

5. Hotel minibar: 400 percent markup

6. Coffee on the go: 300 percent markup. A $3 cup made by a barista costs 25 cents at home.